Lessons from Balaam and his Donkey pt. 3

Before we dive into what happens to Balaam this week, let’s jump back and get caught up with the story...

Balak, the leader of the Moabites saw that the Israelites were close to them and he knew that they had just taken out the Amorites and he was scared.

So, he apparently had heard about this Balaam guy who was a diviner...

We don’t really know much about what that means or looks like, but we do know that he does meet with God...

So, Balak sends word to Balaam and asks him to come and curse the Israelites....

Balaam says he needs to meet with the Lord and does through the night. God tells him the Israelites are blessed and that he was not to curse them...

Balak doesn’t like taking “no” for an answer and now sends back higher ranking officials and offers him a nice amount of money....

Balaam again returns to God and this time God says that he can go, but he must only say what God tells him to say...

They begin the journey, and on the way, something happens with Balaam and God becomes angry...

He places an angel in the road to stop him.

Balaam can’t see the angel, but his donkey does and runs Balaam off the road....Balaam beats his donkey...

The donkey then presses against the wall and Balaam beats him a second time..

The third time, the donkey lays down in the middle of the road and Balaam beats him again...

The Lord opens the mouth of the donkey…and Balaam has this conversation with this donkey...

Last week we had 2 main points in the message....

The first was

1. A Lesson in Focus

Initially it seemed that Balaam was focused on what God had for Him.

He was willing to meet with God before he responded to Balak’s summons...

But, along the way he gets distracted and can’t see the angel in the road....

The second lesson was

2. God Spoke through a Donkey

We talked about how a talking donkey would be just as crazy in Balaam’s day as it would be in our day....

How God chose to speak through an animal in order to get Balaam attention...

So we asked the question: are we willing to listen for God, even if the means seems crazy?

God wants to speak to His people…are we willing to listen?

And to catch us up from last week

1. Balaam Couldn’t see the angel until God opened his eyes

We discussed the story of Hagar and Ishmael and how God opened her eyes to see the well

And the story of Elisha and how the King of Aram surrounded the Israelites and the servant was scared until Elisha prayed for God to open his eyes

God did and the servant could see the armies of the Lord surrounding the Aram armies...

We asked the question about how often we get blinded by out own thoughts and ways and can’t see what God is doing around us

The second point was...

2. What Balak meant for evil and destruction, God used for good!

7 times Balaam was supposed to curse the Israelites, but God blessed His people!

When things seems to be going wrong in our lives, we have two options

We can be a victim with the “woe is me” attitude, or

We can trust that God will see us through and use whatever is meant for bad for His glory and His good..

We ended with these questions:

What are we focused on?

Are we willing to allow God to speak to us however He wants to?

Are we praying that God will open our eyes to see His work?

And, do we trust that even when things seem bad that God is going to use it for His glory?

So, today, the story of Balaam takes a rather sad turn...

As we read in chapter 25, the Israelites began doing so crazy things right after Balaam left...

Numbers 25:1–3 NIV

1 While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. 3 So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

So, the were engaging in sexual acts with the Moabite women, eating foods sacrificed to their gods and following the ways of Baal of Peor....

Baal was a common name for gods and particularly here a god or goddess of fertility, hence the sexual acts...

Because of this, God became angered and sent a plague on the people...

Moses found out what was happening and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron took matter into his own hand, literally, and killed two people.

God stopped the plague, but not before 24,000 people died

At this point, God wasn’t playing around and sad to wipe out the Midianites…If you’re like me, you ask why the Midianites, wasn’t it the Moabites who were paying Balaam? Yes!

So, to make a distinction here, there are two sets of people...

The Moabites, including the king of Moab

Midianites - Balaam

Numbers 22:4–5 NIV

4 The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, 5 sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the Euphrates River, in his native land. Balak said: “A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me.

Moabites, talking with the Midian telling them that the Israelites were going to wipe them out…So, he summons Balaam, who is a Midianite...

So, Balaam doesn’t curse the Israelites, but blesses them…and, apparently tells the the Moabites another way to get at the Israelites and that is to go against the God of Israel, seduce their men, have them eat food sacrificed to your gods..

So, here is where we see how messed up Balaam really is...

Up to this point, it seemed like Balaam was on the side of God and the Israelites....but something happened on the road when God became angry...

Some commentators believe that Balaam initially took the money that Balak offered...

Some believe that as Balaam went home that once he apparently told Balak how to get at the Israelites and so Balak still paid him...

We don’t know all of the exact details, but we do know this:

Even though Balaam did some of the right things, his heart was in the wrong place

There are a few other references to Balaam in the Bible and none of them are good...

Deuteronomy 23:3–6 NIV

3 No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation. 4 For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you. 5 However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. 6 Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.

He is references really quickly in Joshua as the land is being divided…he mentions the Midianites and the death of Balaam...

Micah 6:5 NIV

5 My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”

Peter writes in 2 Peter 2 in regards to false teachers...

2 Peter 2:13–16 NIV

13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. 14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

And Jude is writing about ungodly people

Jude 11 NIV

11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

And, in Revelation as John is writing about the Churches he gets to the church in Pergamum:

Revelation 2:14 NIV

14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.

And, there are probably a few that I missed here and there, some are repetitive, but nonetheless, Balaam is not a good namesake....I don’t recommend you naming your child Balaam...

Even though Balaam did some of the right things, his heart was in the wrong place

I wonder how often we do the same?

How many times do we do the right things, but with wrong motives...

Rather than simply loving on and serving others, we do it for our own gain....

Rather than going to church to worship God, we go for a status boost...

When we give to the needy, we take a selfie to post on social media...

It is super easy for satan to come in and twist what we are doing...

Satan doesn’t create, he only distorts what God creates...

When God asks you to do something, Satan is going to be right there trying to twist it....

Worship Team

As we end this morning, I want to jump back to the very first point that we talked about in this series....

What are we focused on?

If we fail to keep our focus on God and His kingdom, it is likely that we will end up in the wrong place....

I want to give you an opportunity this morning to refocus...

Take a second to examine your life.....

What are the things that you are doing for God?

Are there things that you are doing for the wrong reasons?

Do you need to get back on the right course?

Now, is a time when you can submit to Jesus and ask Him to redirect your life...

John tells the woman at the well in John chapter 4...

John 4:10 NIV

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

Jesus is in the business of giving living water...

If you don’t know Jesus, but know that things in your life are messed up, I encourage you to believe in Him....

Believe that He is God and that He is good.

If you are willing to believe in Him, confess that you are a sinner, turn from those sins, and accept His gift of salvation, He will give you living water.

Water that never runs dry, that gives you life and purpose...

If you want to give you life to Jesus this morning, feel free to come up and allow me to pray with you before you leave today....